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John Tory takes sweaty subway ride without air conditioning

Mayor has been critical of TTC for speed of repairs during sweltering weather.

Mayor John Tory arrives at Kipling station this morning after riding across the Bloor-Danforth subway line during rush hour in a car without air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the summer. (Ben Spurr / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Mayor John Tory sweated through a subway ride on Wednesday morning to feel the heat that thousands of TTC customers have endured this summer.

With Environment Canada posting an early morning temperature of 24 C and the humidity making it feel like 32 C, Tory took up a Toronto transit user’s challenge and rode with her for the entire length of Line 2, or the Bloor-Danforth subway, in a car without working air conditioning.

So-called “hot cars” have been a problem for the TTC throughout the summer months and have forced commuters to suffer through sweltering conditions almost daily. The transit agency estimates that 15 to 20 per cent of the 370 cars on Line 2 don't have working air conditioning.

After arriving at Kipling station on the western end of the line, the mayor told reporters that the 90-minute ride from Kennedy was uncomfortably hot. Tory said that in addition to the high temperature, the trip was delayed several times by “a couple of passenger assistance alarms” and a medical emergency. He was 30 minutes late for his planned news conference.

“I was able to experience not only the discomfort, which was considerable, of being in a hot car, but also the experience of a transit system that was experiencing on that particular day and that particular time, delays that were causing people to fret,” he said.

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Tory said he takes public transit almost every day but his ride Wednesday was aimed at drawing attention to the air conditioning problem, and at raising awareness about the fact that the TTC is working hard to fix it.

“I will simply say this to the people who are watching, the TTC commuters — we will do better next year and going forward,” he said.

At the mayor’s side was Bianca Spence, the subway rider who challenged him over Twitter to the ride-along after she became fed up with her stifling trips. She said her journey with Tory was as bad as any commute she’s experienced this summer, and she hoped it would be instructive to the mayor.

“It was super hot and then we got trapped in a tunnel . . . It was very, very crowded and standing room only. Lots of people sort of looking wilted and fanning themselves,” she said.

Spence, who described herself as “just a regular, warm, sweaty, disgruntled commuter,” said she wanted the ride-along to demonstrate to Tory that there are “inequities in the quality of service across the system.” She also suggested it might cause him to reconsider cuts to the TTC budget.

“Hopefully it just gives him an idea of what it’s really like on the ground,” she said.

The mayor’s well-publicized hot car ride comes weeks after he appeared to clash with TTC leadership over the agency’s 2017 budget. In July, Tory and city council asked the TTC and all other city agencies and departments to cut their operating budgets by 2.6 per cent next year.

That would require a reduction of about $16 million for the TTC, a figure the transit agency says is manageable. But the TTC is also facing about $215 million in additional costs next year just to maintain existing service levels.

According to an internal memo from TTC CEO Andy Byford last month, cutting that amount would require “unpalatable” measures like eliminating service or delaying the opening of the York Spadina Subway Extension.

Tory warned last month that if the TTC didn’t find a way to lower spending, he would consider calling in an outside task force to do it for them.

On Wednesday however, his stance appeared to soften. Asked whether he believed a 2.6-per-cent cut to the TTC budget was realistic, he said that the transit agency has “been asked simply to submit a list of things that they could do to reach that target.”

“It may be the case that the entire list they submit is not accepted by us because we’d say, well, that may be on your list but that’s not something we’re prepared to do. . . We’re going to look at those lists, we’re going to determine the impact they would have on people and on the city, and then we will make some decisions.”

Tory backed $95 million worth of service improvements for the TTC in 2015. He said Wednesday he wouldn’t support reversing any of those improvements in order to meet the budget target.

Speaking to CBC Radio on Wednesday morning, TTC Chair Josh Colle said it was “fair” to ask the transit agency to examine its spending, but he suggested it may not be possible to reach the 2.6-per-cent target.

“We’re honestly looking at everything, but at the same time, sometimes you can’t give blood from a stone,” he said.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE TTC’S ‘HOT CAR’ PROBLEM

The “hot car” problem on the TTC has been the transit story of the summer. We answer five questions about the sweaty saga.

How many hot cars are there?

According to the TTC, as of Wednesday between 15 and 20 per cent of the 370 cars on Line 2 didn’t have working air conditioning. That’s about 55 to 75 cars.

Why aren’t there any hot cars on Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina)?

The TTC runs its newer Toronto Rocket trains on Line 1. The trains have only been in service for five years and have yet to experience widespread maintenance problems. The T1 model trains on Line 2 are about 15 years old or older and many are in need of repair.

Why doesn’t the TTC run new cars on Line 2 (the Bloor-Danforth line) as well?

The TTC has run a few Rockets on Line 2 to alleviate the hot car situation, but most of the new trains are used on Line 1 because that line carries 740,000 passengers a day, 40 per cent more than Line 2. The new trains have passenger capacity about 10 per cent greater than the older trains.

When will new subway cars come to Line 2?

The T1 trains on Line 2 won’t reach the end of their service life until 2025, at which point they will be replaced by newer models.

Will the hot cars be fixed by next summer?

Not necessarily. The TTC is replacing the air conditioning units in all its T1 trains, not just the ones that have already broken, because the units are at the end of their lifespan. It still has more than two-thirds of the fleet, at least 200 cars, to overhaul, and it can take up to 10 days to replace each unit.

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